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RoboCop is a 1987 science fiction action movie, directed by Paul Verhoeven, about a cyborg police officer. It is also the name of a comic and television series featuring the same character.
The movie is set in Detroit at an undefined future time when violent crime is rife. The megacorporation OCP (Omni Consumer Products--an anagram for COP) which has privatizated almost everything (even the police) has the answer: a robot policeman. Secretly, their "robot" policeman is actually a cyborg, built around a police officer killed in the line of duty; this causes problems when he begins to remember who he was.
RoboCop was followed by two more movies, a number of television series and several comic book series.
The fictional character
RoboCop was formerly a dedicated police officer by the name of Alex Murphy, played by Peter Weller. He was married with one son, and was transferred to Detroit in order to help the police deal with the ongoing wave of crime among a spree of cop killings in the Old City. Secretly, he was also among the list of potential "volunteers" for OCP's Robocop project, which was the true reason for his transfer.
Richard Jones (vice president of OCP and having secret ties to Boddicker) introduced the Enforcement Droid 209 (ED-209) during a board meeting as a means of policing areas of high criminal activity without risking officer safety. However, when the robot failed to respond correctly during an exercise and executed one of the board members, the Presdient of OCP turned to executive Bob Morton, who had been developing a similar project while waiting for "Dick" to slip up; a human-machine hybrid--a "Robocop", in other words. All that was needed was an unfortunate volunteer...
Enter Alex Murphy. With his new partner, Anne Lewis, he pursued the head of the local mafia, Clarence Boddicker and his gang, after a failed bank robbery in which the money was burned during the escape. Chasing the villians to an abandoned steel mill and separated from his partner, Murphy shot and killed one of the thugs before being surrounded and tortured before being murdered. After having his weapon knocked away collapsing after a blow to his legs, Boddicker blew off Murphy's right hand at point-blank range with his shotgun. As Murphy rose up in pain, a thug named Emil blew Murphy's entire right arm away at the shoulder. Immediately the rest of the gang followed and shot at the helpless officer until they ran out of ammunition. Because of his body armor, Murphy was not killed instantly but sustained at least 50 shotgun blasts to his torso. Boddicker ended it with a single shot to Murphy's head. Lewis discovered her fallen partner and called for a medical transport which delivers Murphy's braindead body for an emergency operation; however, Murphy's heart flatlined on the operating table. At this point, OCP apparently stepped in.
Because of Murphy's eligibility and recent death, he was chosen to be the center of the new cyborg. His brain, face, and other organic parts were attached to a life-support system in a human-like titanium body; the designated RoboCop. His organic right hand had been destroyed before Murphy was killed, which made it necessary to fashion a replacement. While the surgeons were able to save the left arm, Bob Morton, head of the project, insisted on giving him an entirely artificial body. The left arm was then removed.
RoboCop's external-skeleton is made out of titanium and is coated with kevlar, rendering him bullet-proof. It can even deflect light explosives under specific conditions. His hands and legs are enhanced by hydraulic motors enable him to crush a human throat with his grip and break through concrete walls. His hands were capable of exerting 420 foot pounds (569 Nm) of torque, which would be enough to crush every bone in a human hand. His remaining organic material is able to be sustained through a nutrient-paste solution, similar to baby food.
RoboCop is equipped with a modified Beretta 93r semi-automatic pistol, capable of (and used almost exclusively with) a three-round burst setting. When he is not using his pistol he stores it in a retractable holster built into his right thigh. Before his death Murphy would mimic his son's favourite television show hero, "TJ Laser", by spinning his gun around his index finger and holstering it, a trait which he continued to use as RoboCop. RoboCop also has an automated targeting system, thus making him an excellent sharpshooter.
RoboCop also had several useful features such as thermal vision, voice recognition and a video recorder. He could also access computers - such as the police department's computers and some of OCP's systems - directly using a retractable input/output jack built into his right hand. The jack is in the form of sharp spike which also made it a suitable emergency hand to hand weapon.
RoboCop also had a radio transmitter built into him. This enabled OCP, government officials, and those who had a specialized tracker, to be aware of his location at all times. It also enabled computerized dispatching programs to communicate with RoboCop and make him aware of situations requiring his presence.
RoboCop is programmed to follow three prime directives:
- Serve the public trust
- Protect the innocent
- Uphold the law
A fourth directive, which he was programmed to be unaware of unless it became relevant, rendered him physically incapable of placing any OCP employee under arrest. In the first movie it made him unable to act against corrupt Vice-President Richard 'Dick' Jones until Jones was fired. During the second movie he was unable to act against OCP officials even though he knew that they had committed crimes. In the third movie, when RoboCop became a member of the resistance against OCP, the fourth directive was finally erased.
While at first no one outside a few OCP employees knew who RoboCop was, eventually a few clues surfaced that revealed who RoboCop had originally been. Former partner Anne Lewis realized that RoboCop was Murphy after he used his personal holstering technique. She confronted RoboCop, who had just had a flashback about his final moments with "Murphy - it's you." When Emil - played by Paul McCrane - heard RoboCop say, "Dead or Alive, you're coming with me" he also realized who RoboCop actually was. Emil then yelled back, "You're dead! We killed you!", causing the officer to hesitate as he replayed the sentence. Later, he would return to his former, empty home as memories resurfaced of his life. Near the climax of the movie, Robocop, having been severly damaged by ED-209 and the reluctant Detroit Police, unscrews his helmet and finally looks at his face. He comments on his family; "I can feel them, but I can't remember them". Finally, at the end of the first film, when the President of OCP asked RoboCop what his name was, RoboCop replied, "Murphy," having regained his identity.
Trivia
- "RoboCop" was Dutch-born director Paul Verhoeven's first American movie.
- He first threw the script of the movie in the trash after giving it a casual look. It was then read by his wife, who convinced him there was a lot more substance to the plot than her husband first thought.
- The oddball TV show with its catchphrase "I'd buy that for a dollar!" seen throughout the movie is called "It's Not My Problem". This is not shown in the movie, but is rather revealed by script writer Ed Neumeier on the commentaries track of the Robocop Trilogy DVD release.
- The actors of some of the movie's most notable villains, including Dick Jones (Ronny Cox), Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and Emil Antonowski (Paul McCrane) are all described as being very friendly people in real life.
- "Barbara", secretary of OCP executive Dick Jones, is played by Joan Pirkle, real-life wife of Kurtwood Smith.
- Eddie Van Halen, gutarist for the band Van Halen plays the "Unemployed" man who is interviewed during one of the MediaBreak segments.
Other films
- RoboCop 2 - RoboCop faces a new drug, called Nuke, that is flooding the streets of Detroit City while OCP uses a dead drug-addict dealer, Kane, for the "RoboCop 2" project.
- RoboCop 3 - OCP is on the edge of bankruptcy and set to be sold to a Japanese corporation. RoboCop defends the residents of Old Detroit from a forced transfer by OCP who plans to rebuild the city as its new grand project.
- RoboCop - Prime Directives (4-episode television miniseries) - RoboCop gets a new partner, John Cable, who joined the RoboCop project after losing his baby. OCP decides to shut down the RoboCop project for good, while a former OCP scientist threatens the world with a lethal virus.
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